etymology
etymology — noun
- etymologysingular
- etymologiesplural
1. the field of knowledge that investigates where words come from, how they travell
the field of knowledge that investigates where words come from, how they travelled between languages, and the ways their forms and meanings have changed over time; also the origin story of any specific word
Professor Amina teaches etymology at the university, tracing words back to ancient Greek.
teaches + etymology + at [institution]
Hiroshi looked up the etymology of 'tsunami' and learned it came from Japanese.
look up the etymology of [word]
Zahara was surprised to learn that the etymology of 'salary' goes back to the Latin word for salt.
Kwame wrote a short paper on the etymology of several West African place names.
Fatima finds etymology useful for remembering new vocabulary in her Spanish class.
- word origin
more informal; typically refers only to a specific word's history, not the academic field
- derivation
narrower term focusing on how a word was formed from earlier roots or affixes
- word history
close synonym, slightly more everyday in tone than 'etymology'
用法筆記
Uncountable when referring to the field of study; countable when referring to a specific word's origin story (you can say 'an etymology').